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Planning for California’s Clean Energy Future

PG&E has made some of the largest-ever commitments for utility-scale solar energy.
Photo courtesy of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC.PG&E uses a comprehensive energy strategy to meet its customers’ future power needs consistent with the state’s Energy Action Plan. The strategy emphasizes an aggressive expansion of customer energy efficiency and demand-side management programs and looks to secure additional renewable power resources before meeting remaining energy needs through efficient traditional generation sources.

In 2009, PG&E's retail customers purchased 79,624 GWh of electricity. Of that amount, 28,114 GWh were generated by PG&E's own natural gas, hydroelectric and nuclear facilities, as well as small amounts of fuel oil, diesel and solar energy. The remainder was purchased under contracts or from the open market.

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PG&E’s 2009 Electric Power Mixmore...

The charts below show our overall electricity supply mix for 2009, which included both the energy PG&E generated and the energy PG&E purchased from third parties.

PG&E’s 2009 Electric Power Mix Delivered to Retail Customers

* “Unspecified Sources” refers to electricity generated that is not traceable to specific generation sources by any auditable contract trail and “Other Fossil” includes diesel oil and petroleum coke (a waste byproduct of oil refining).

** As defined in Senate Bill 1078, which created California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard, an eligible renewable resource includes geothermal facilities, hydroelectric facilities with a capacity rating of 30 MW or less, biomass facilities, selected municipal solid waste facilities, solar facilities and wind facilities.

PG&E’s Long-Term Procurement Planmore...

PG&E procures resources to meet its customer electricity needs based on a long-term procurement plan approved by the CPUC.

In preparing its plan, PG&E puts first priority on reducing consumption through energy efficiency and then relies significantly on preferred and environmentally-friendly resources, such as demand response programs, renewable generation, distributed generation (including solar power) and new, clean and efficient fossil-fuel units.

For example, over the next 10 years, forecasts from the CPUC and the CEC show PG&E meeting approximately half of the anticipated demand growth in its service area through energy efficiency and customer-owned solar. As a result, electricity sales would grow at an average rate of just 1 percent per year between 2010 and 2019; in the absence of these programs, electricity sales would grow at an average rate of 2 percent per year.

Projected Energy Load Growth Met by Demand-Side Resources, 2010â2019